Abnegate [Stranger Things]

Chapter 8

Hopper, Elizah, Joyce, Jonathan, and Nancy crammed themselves all in Will's room, rummaging around for Will's old walkie-talkie. Within the five of them, it was only minutes before Jonathan picked up the big, clunky, black device from beneath his brother's bed. Nancy quickly pulled it from his hands, pressing the button a few times.

"Mike? Mike! Mike, it's Nancy!"

Nancy took her finger off the button for a few seconds. "Mike, it's Nancy! If you're there, I need you to answer. Where are you?"

Over a minute of silence passed this time before Nancy spoke again. "Mike, come on! This is an emergency, Mike. It's Nancy, just answer!"

Hopper grabbed the walkie-talkie aggressively from Nancy, bringing it straight to his mouth. "C'mon, kid. This is Chief Jim Hopper. If you're out there, we need you to answer. We know you're on the run, we know you have the girl. Just answer us, and we can help you. We have another one of Brenner's kid experiments here."

There was yet another long minute of silence. Hopper let out a loud sigh, then threw the walkie-talkie onto the tall dresser. "Any other ideas?"

As if on cue, static echoed through the walkie-talkie. The group in Will's room all stared at the black communicator like a cult sacrifice. "Nancy? Hopper?"

Hopper swiftly grabbed the walkie-talkie off the dresser again. "Mike? You there?"

"We're here," the walkie-talkie echoed. There was a short pause. "We're all here."

There was a unanimous sigh of relief throughout Will's room. Hopper pressed the walkie-talkie button again as he began quickly making his way out of the room. "Where are you guys? We're on our way, we've got you."

Hopper's crew followed him quickly through the old beat-up house and to his car again, listening to Mike's instructions. He spoke about an old junkyard clearing, one that the other teenagers didn't understand. Hopper sped off down the road, not even waiting for his passengers to put on their seatbelts.

"Sister," the walkie-talkie echoed. Eleven was talking now. "Talk to Sister."

"Elizah," Hopper shouted as if she couldn't hear him in the backseat. He held the walkie-talkie over his shoulder, and Elizah grabbed it quickly.

"Sister," ELizah pressed the button and called into the microphone. "Sister?"

"Sister Two," there was a little crack in Eleven's soft voice. "I'm.... Sorry."

ELizah paused, hesitating before she mumbled, "I'm sorry, too."

"Mike. He will help us," Eleven's static-ridden voice echoed throughout the car.

"We will help each other," Elizah reassured her friend. "We will keep each other from Papa. He knows we are here."

Elven's voice rang through much quieter this time. "I know."

"Elizah," Hopper called. "Tell her we'll be there soon."

"We will be there soon," Elizah repeated into the microphone. When she took her finger off the button, there was nothing but static. Elizah held her breath for a few seconds, then called back into the walkie-talkie. "Sister? Sister?"

Nothing but static again. Hopper drove over a small hill that led into the clearing. The group saw three different cars surrounding the abandoned junk vehicles, three men wandering around outside.

"Stay here." Hopper parked his car, ran out, all while leaving his posse to watch him run up to the men. 

Hopper slammed the butt of his gun into one man, knocking him out right on the spot. The other two men ganged up on Hopper. One swung at him, but Hopper kicked him in the chest. The kicked man fell against a rusty bus before falling unconscious. Hopper turned to the third man, who held a revolver to the chief's head. 

"Hey, man," Hopper mumbled. "I don't want any trouble."

"Just knocked out two men," The suited agent retorted, "Yeah, I can see you want no trouble."

Elizah reached over to silently shift the car door open. Everybody else watched in horror, but Joyce reached back to grab Elizah's arm. "Stay here!"

Elizah ripped her arm from the mother's grip. She silently pushed the door open, carefully watching each step on the grass. She glared at the back of the agent's head as she slowly stepped up, hiding behind his suit jacket. Elizah carefully watched each step in case the cool grass crunched underneath her shoes. The teenager picked up a tree branch the size of her entire arm, holding it like a giant hammer. 

Hopper glanced at Elizah, but stared back at his enemy. He blinked several times, trying to come up with something to distract the man. "Look," the chief shook his head. "We can work something out."

The blond suited man snickered. "Yeah," he clicked the chamber's switch on his gun. "We can."

Thwap! 

Elizah swung out, and the man's skull cracked against the tree branch. He fell to the ground, out like a light. The teenager dropped the branch on the unconscious man's body. Hopper nodded, giving a quick "Good job," before he turned to the rusted old bus.

Elizah just barely heard Hopper call to the children on the bus, "Let's go!" There was a short pause before he repeated himself. "Come on, let's go!"

Hopper ran off the bus with the four children in tow, leading them out. Joyce was climbing out of her seat, giving off a relieved sigh. "Hop, how're we gonna get them all out of here?"

The chief hesitated, and he froze in his place. He stared around his environment. Hopper jogged to one of the Hawkins' Lab cars, checking the ignition. He pulled the silver keys out, then held them up in the air like a small child with a sport's trophy. "Joyce, you drive the kids. I'll take Elizah, Jonathan, and Nancy. We head back to your place until we figure out what to do next."

The mother nodded, marching right up to take the tiny keys from Hopper's hand. She beckoned to the younger children, gesturing them over. "Let's go, move!"

"Where's Eleven?" Mike stared around the tiny clearing. 

Eleven was by Hopper's police car, right with Elizah. The two girls were tightly hugging each other, faces hidden in each other's shoulders. Even though they were a couple years apart, they were nearly the same height, and hugged like reuniting best friends. 

Hopper turned to Joyce with a tiny nod. "I hate to say this, but we can't have them in the same car. We will make ourselves a bigger target if they're together."

Joyce bit on the inside of her cheek, hesitating before she gave a tiny nod in return from her stolen car. "You're right."

Elizah and Eleven still hadn't separated, and Hopper carefully stepped over. He put one hand one Elizah's shoulder and one on Eleven's. "We gotta go, kids. I'm sorry, but it's safer if we travel with you two separate. You'll see each other again after we get to where we're going."

The two young girls nodded as they separated, then stared up at the chief like tiny, crying soldiers waiting for instruction. "Eleven, go with Joyce Byers. Elizah, you've got the front seat." 

Eleven slowly stepped over the crunchy grass to her friends, climbing into the backseat with Lucas and Dustin. Elizah watched as Joyce began rolling out of the clearing in the stolen car. Hopper nodded at the young teen, and she climbed into the passenger seat with a little sigh. She buckled her seatbelt, as did Nancy and Jonathan, and Hopper pulled the car into drive. 

"Just relax until we get there. We're going back to Joyce's place, and we're gonna try to find Will."